Conway, S.C. – Coastal Carolina baseball host the Brittain Resorts Invitational this weekend, Feb. 21-23, at both Springs Brooks Stadium and TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark.
The three days of play will begin with Western Carolina taking on Illinois at TicketReturn.com Field at 11 a.m. on Friday and will conclude with the Chanticleers hosting West Virginia on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Springs Brooks Stadium.
Click here to view the full tournament schedule.
WILD WEEKEND IN PLACE
• Coastal Carolina will host five teams and 10 games over two stadiums over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this weekend as part of the Brittain Resorts Invitational.
• The Chants will play four games over the three days, including a doubleheader on Sunday at Springs Brooks Stadium.
• CCU will play two new opponents in Saint Joseph's (Friday) and Kennesaw State (Sunday), as well as two familiar early tournament foes in Illinois (Saturday) and West Virginia (Sunday).
• Overall, the Chanticleers are 16-11 versus their four foes this weekend having gone 8-7 versus Illinois and 8-4 against West Virginia all-time.
WEATHER CONTINUES TO WRECK HAVOC
• The weather has already wreaked havoc on the Chanticleers' schedule this season, as each of their last two games was affected by the rain.
* Sunday, Feb. 16 versus Virginia Tech (cancelled)
* Tuesday, Feb. 18 at UNCW (postponed) until Wednesday, Feb. 19 at Coastal Carolina
• This weekend, the Conway/Myrtle Beach area is expecting colder temperatures than normal which has altered the original tournament schedule. Friday games were moved up due to predicted cold temperatures while Monday's contest between West Virginia and Coastal was moved to Sunday afternoon.
SCHNALL WINS ONE FOR GILLEY
• Associate head coach
Kevin Schnall served as the acting head coach in Wednesday's 4-3 win of UNCW (Feb. 19) in the absence of head coach
Gary Gilmore.
• Per NCAA rules, the win goes to coach Gilmore's record as he is the head coach at Coastal Carolina University.
FAST STARTS
• The Chanticleers will look to continue their recent history of strong starts to the season.
• Last season, CCU started the season by winning seven-straight games and went 8-2 over its first 10 contests.
• In 2018, the Chants went 3-0 to start the year and also went 8-2 over their first 10 games of the season.
HOME SWEET HOME
• Coastal will enjoy its home field for the first month and a half of the season, as 16 of the Chants' first 18 games will come at Springs Brooks Stadium.
• With the change of Wednesday's game from UNCW to Springs Brooks Stadium, CCU's lone two road games in the first four weeks of the season are at the College of Charleston (Feb. 26) and at NC State (March 4).
PITCHING = WHERE IT'S AT FOR CCU IN 2020
• The Coastal pitching staff has been superb early this season, posting a 2.67 ERA over 27.0 innings pitched.
• CCU's arms have given up just 10 runs over the first three games, eight of which were earned, while striking out 21 batters compared to just six walks.
• Coastal's arms have held its foes to a .238 batting average on the year, and have allowed just three extra-base hits.
• Thus far this year, the Chants have not allowed more than four runs in a single game and are 2-1 on the year.
• Last year, CCU held its opponent to four runs or less just 20 times, posting a record of 16-3-1 overall on the season.
OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES
• Coastal Carolina is struggling this year at the plate, as the Chants are hitting just .185 overall as a team.
• A total of just eight Chants have recorded a hit so far this season, led by freshmen
Zack Beach and
Brian Port with two hits apiece.
• The Chants' offense has scored 17 runs over the first three games of the season, however, they have had some help as 12 of those runs have been unearned.
ON THE HORIZON
• Coastal Carolina will hit the road for a midweek tilt at the College of Charleston on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. ET, before returning home to host Maryland of the Big Ten for a three-game weekend series on Feb. 28-March 1.
For complete coverage of CCU baseball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalBaseball (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUsports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
